I Dream of Spring
by Wolfram-and-Hart-Sauron
Summary: Alone in the tower, Rapunzel waits for the cold to consume her or for her world to change forever.


**I Dream of Spring**

by Wolfram-And-Hart

Written for Punzie the Platypus' Spring challenge.

Rapunzel's POV

* * *

I'm sitting in the darkened main room of my tower, huddled on the floor wrapped in a cocoon of my hair. I don't know how I got here or how I suddenly have my hair again, but I don't question it.

It's freezing. I remember some cold winters growing up, but never like this. The cold is so strong that it seems to reach into my chest and squeeze the warmth out.

A blast of wind blows open the shutters of the window with a mighty bang. The wind is furious at being kept out. It howls through the canyon, and it sounds frighteningly familiar. It sounds like an old woman screaming as she plummets from the tower.

The open window lets in enough light for me to look around the room. The entire inside of the tower is coated in frost and ice. All my bright and colorful paintings have been overwhelmed by ghostly white.

A forest of icicles hang down from the wooden beams in the ceiling. It looks like the tower has grown teeth and it is getting ready to feast. Or maybe I'm already in the belly of the beast and I'm looking up its throat.

The floor is covered in frost. It coats the stone tiles in a fine layer of ice, but for whatever reason, it hasn't reached me. Not yet, at any rate. But I know it wants to. It's reaching out for me, ready and eager to freeze me; to claim me and make me as lifeless as the rest of the tower.

There's no light or vibrancy in this place anymore. It's dark, cold, silent and still. Now I know why they call it the "dead of winter." Everything is frozen. Everything's dead.

Wait... No, not everything. _I'm_ still alive. I'm still alive and the cold... it's angry about that. And it's even angrier that I'm trying to protect something from it.

My left hand is a tight fist underneath the lengths of hair. I'm holding something and I don't know what it is, but I _do_ know that I have to protect it. If the cold gets its icy fingers on it, it's over. So I sit there, wrapped up in my hair, protecting the precious glimmer of hope. I sing my old song, bringing the warm golden light into the dead tower, trying to give it a chance.

Suddenly, something moves in the shadows. I hear footsteps, and in the silence of the tower they may as well be thunderclaps. I shrink in terror as my unexpected visitor walks into the light from the window.

It looks like Mother, or maybe some nightmare version of her. Her face is young, but pale. No, not pale, white. White as a ghost. White as snow. Her dark green cloak and red dress are jet black, but even those are covered by frost. The only thing unchanged are her eyes. They're still the icy grey I remembered, and still filled with the cold hate they held on that last day in the tower.

"Give me that." She says, pointing at me. No, wait, she's pointing at my left hand. Whatever I have, she wants it.

I stand, the coils of hair falling off of me. I half expect her to reach for the hair, but her eyes never waver from my left hand.

"It's not worth it." The specter of Mother says, taking a step closer. "Why should things change? The world is cruel. The cold is kind. It makes all the pain stop. It never lets scary changes come."

I dash for the window. The wind picks up as I throw my hair out. She doesn't move towards me. She just smirks, even as I jump out the window. The ride down isn't as easy as the last time. The wind violently blows my makeshift rope around as I cling to it for dear life. I don't know which is worse, the impact of being blown into the side of the tower or the freezing wind itself pelting me. But all the way down, I my hand holds tight. I won't let the cold get it.

I hit the ground screaming. I've never liked shoes that much, but hitting that snow barefoot was like landing in thousand icy needles. I take off through the snow, but it's piled so high that I can barely move my legs through it. I may as well be trudging waist deep through the muddy swamp.

The wind howls, blowing an endless torrent of snow and ice at me. The icy fog is so thick that I can't see three feet in front of me. For all I know, I could have made a complete circle and ended up back to the tower. The wind keeps trying to push me back or push me down. I have no idea where I'm going, but the cold doesn't want me to get there.

I wrap my hair around myself to try and stay warm, but it's _so_ cold, and I've been out in it _so_ long, there's hardly any warmth left in me to save. I'm freezing, I can barely move, I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I feel like I've been running for hours, and it keeps throwing the blizzard at me. It's trying to beat me down. I hate to admit it, but it's succeeding.

It's taking more and more effort to just take a step forward, especially since I lost the feeling in my feet a while ago. I trip and fall into a snow bank. I huff and puff as I lay there, each breath of icy air tearing up my raw throat. I huddle there as the storm swirls around me. At this rate, I'll end up buried in snow. I'll just be covered, disappear... like I was never there...

I can't stay here, I know I can't. My eyes are drawn to my shaking fist. If I don't move, I won't be able to protect it. I try desperately to at least get to my knees, but I'm _so_ tired and I'm _so_ cold.

"Just let it go." I don't know how, but I can hear Mother's voice over the wind. I look up and there she is. She just stares down at me in false sympathy. " It's over. Accept it. You've done enough. You tried and failed, there's no shame in that.

"Everything sleeps in the winter. No animals out fighting for survival, no plants growing, no conflict. Even the river sleeps." She points to my left and I see a frozen river. Even its ever flowing waters can't resist the cold. "Nothing changes in the cold. Nothing new comes. No conflicts, no worries, just pristine whiteness and peace. It's so peaceful."

"B-b-b-but... I..." I try to say, shivering violently.

"Things are fine as they are. Even outside the tower, things are going fine. Why change it? You don't know what could come from it." She says, pointing to my tightly clenched left hand. "It could ruin everything. Just let the cold take it. It won't be hurt, it will just stay asleep. The horrible event will never come and you can stay as you are forever."

I look at my shaking fist in thought. I don't want things to change. I've got everything I could ask for and more. I have the love of Eugene, Pascal, Maximus, my parents, my people. What else could I want? Why do I need to accept this? Would life be so bad if it never happens? Would my life be any better? I just don't know!

I... don't... know...

That's it, isn't it? I don't know. All my life, that's been my problem. I don't know what could happen, and I was always taught to be afraid because of that. Taught by a selfish woman whose face this... _thing_ is wearing.

She was wrong, and so is it.

With every ounce of strength I can muster, I stand up. The wind seems to weaken as I look the thing that looks like Gothel in the eyes.

"I will not give up." I say, defiantly. I raise my left hand and its precious cargo to my chest and put my right hand over it to make my hold stronger. The snow stops falling as I declare, "You will _never_ touch it."

"_Why?_" The Gothel thing shrieks, sending a flurry of snow all over the path. "You have no concept of what will come of it! You will suffer pain you never dreamed possible! Your family will never be the same! Your life will change as drastically as it did when you left the tower!"

"So, what should I do? Pretend that things can stay the same forever? Hide from everything because I'm afraid of something that _could_ happen? NO!" I yell ferociously. I feel my strength returning as I press on. In fact, I think I'm starting to feel warmer. "I wasted most of my life thinking that way because of someone like you. But I saw the light a long time ago."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a something move. I see a tiny light in the distance. It keeps going higher and higher. Suddenly, more and more lights float up to join it. Familiar beacons of hope for someone lost in the cold and darkness. The Gothel thing shrinks away, as the lights cut through the icy fog.

Thousands of them fly overhead, and my heart soars up with them. As they keep going higher, I realize they're starting to bunch together. The countless smaller lights are joining into larger ones. It keeps happening until they all come together in one huge light in the sky. The sun has finally risen.

The Gothel thing screams and runs at me. She grabs at my hand and tries to pry it open. I pull back with all my strength. I won't let go! The Gothel thing hisses and jumps back as if she was burned. ...Actually, I think she was. She cries in pain as smoke rises from her hands.

The vision of that evil woman falls to its knees and cries in pain. She looks at me in pure rage and I realize she's changing. It looks like she's aging, but it's not the same. She's sweating like a pig as her face continues to sag. She looks different, almost... smaller. She wraps herself up in her cloak, trying to hide from reality just as she did in her final moments in the tower. But that just seems to make her wither away faster.

It hits me like a bolt of lightning. That isn't sweat and she isn't aging. She's melting. I watch as her cries fade away and she becomes nothing but a cloak floating in a puddle.

I sigh in relief as I run my hand over my left fist. It's safe. Suddenly, I feel a weight lift from my shoulders. Or... to be more accurate, a weight lifted from my head. I look down and see my massive length of hair has been cut and turned brown again.

I look up at the newly risen sun. I feel it reaching out to me. I stride past the old cloak without a second thought and I start to follow the light. It leads me on through the forest. At last I can actually _see_ the forest. The fog is lifted and clouds are rolling away, bringing more light to my path.

Wait, I... I know this path! This leads to the city! It goes right past the Snuggly Duckling! I pick up my pace at the sense of familiarity. I start running down the path, and as I run, I notice that the snow has all but melted away. What once went up to my knees is now a few melting drifts along the trees. The trees themselves are still bare, but the snow is dropping and the ice is melting off their branches. In the distance, I think... I think I can hear a bird singing! It's so wonderful to hear after so long in the cold silence! Winter is ending!

I see the Snuggly Duckling up ahead! I laugh wildly as I rush past it! I'm almost home! I've never run so fast in all my life! And the scenery just gets better and better! The trees are sprouting leaves! The grass is growing! Flowers are blooming! Birds are singing! Squirrels and rabbits are running through bushes and up trees! Everything's awake again! Everything's alive again!

I run all the way to the bridge that leads into town, laughing the whole time. I don't stop until I reach the town square. _Everybody_ is there waiting for me! My friends from the Snuggly Duckling, the guards, the Braid sisters, Maximus, Pascal, Mother and Father and, of course, Eugene. I'm out of breath, but I'm still overjoyed as I get caught up in probably the first ever kingdom-wide group hug!

Eugene smiles at me, and then looks at my left hand. He takes it in his own, but I still clench it tight. "You still have your gift."

"Yes." I say, looking a little nervously at my hand, and whatever it is that I've been so compelled to hold onto.

"Are you scared?" I look up at Eugene, then back at my hand.

I think I _was_ scared. I think that's why I was in the tower in that terrible coldness in the first place. It's going to change things; I don't know how I know that, but I know that it will. So part of me wanted to run away, and I ended up back to the one place I knew where nothing ever changed.

I was wrong. I can't run from this. In fact, I don't think I want to anymore. Whatever this is, it's going to change things. Meeting Eugene changed things. Meeting my real parents changed things. And they made my life so much better. Why should I run from this change? If the world is going to shift, I can't stop it, I may as well embrace it.

I open my hand and finally see what lead me through all this.

...

I... I... I've never... I don't think I've ever felt closer to anything in my life... I didn't think I could love something this much. All at once, everything is different and I'm _so_ happy.

I look up at Eugene, smiling through tears. He's smiling like he did the day we got married. And then I realize that this is more than a new change. It's a new beginning for both of us! The light around the square keeps getting brighter. Brighter and brighter until I can't see anything but the light.

* * *

WHOA!

I... Where... What...? I'm... in bed? Ah! The sun's shining right in my eye! I hold my hand up to keep it out of my eyes. I look up and see the morning's golden light coming through the window. So that was the light? So...all that was a dream? It didn't happen? And there is no... No, wait... _yes_ there is.

I look next to me and see the blankets and sheets thrown aside and Eugene is nowhere to be found. That's weird. I'm almost always up before him. Why would he be up at... 10:30? Whoa, I slept in! But I never sleep that late! Why would I suddenly...

Oh, yeah...

I throw my robe on over my nightgown and walk to the balcony doors. I open the door only slightly, but the birds singing already fills my ears. I walk out and look out over the kingdom. It's beautiful. The people are distributing flowers and hanging decorations for the festival. The Spring Jubilee is one of my favorite celebrations. The flowers, the colors, the music, everything is so alive. The kingdom shakes off the cold of its long winter's sleep and begins to live again. We dance and sing for the season of restoration and rebirth. It seems eerily fitting.

I jump a little as the bedroom door opens. Eugene starts to quietly tip toe in, but stops when he sees I'm already awake.

"Hey, Blondie. I was wondering when you were gonna get up." He says, walking out onto the balcony with me. "I tried waking you up earlier, but you wouldn't budge."

"Yeah... It's weird." I say, tugging at a lock of my hair.

"Maybe you really are coming down with something. You sure the doctor didn't find anything wrong when you saw him yesterday?" Eugene is so cute when he worries. I almost want to wait on telling him about everything just so I can watch him get all flustered. But that would be too cruel. Fun, but cruel.

"No, the doctor said I wasn't sick or anything." I take a deep breath and tell him the news. "But, he _did_ find something."

"What?" His eyes widen, and I know he's getting ready to launch into full panic mode.

"Eugene just... just don't freak out." I smile at him and take his hand. I press his palm against my stomach, hoping that he'll figure it out.

He blankly stares at me for a few seconds, but it seems like eons. And then, his eyes widen and his mouth drops open as the news hits him. He points at me and sputters like his brain can't function with the news it's been given.

For one terrifying second I'm afraid that my fears were right and this has changed things for the worse.

But, then he grabs me by the waist and spins me through the air, laughing as wildly as I did in my dream. I can't help but join him.

Today is the first day of spring and we will dance and sing and celebrate the departure of winter and return of life.

... And the beginning of new life.

**THE END**


End file.
